Ashit Joshi, Founder & CEO, Nucash Inc.
It’s encouraging that the government has continued financial support for the digital payment ecosystem, which was announced last year to 2022-23 as well. The proposal to set up 75 digital banking units (DBUs) will further help grow the fintech ecosystem and enable digital payments adoption. The announcement to focus on the promotion of
payment platforms that are economical and user friendly is perfectly in line with our ethos of making credit accessible and universal to the Indian student market.
The government’s announcement in this year’s budget to establish a national Digital University is a huge step in the right direction and will help provide world-class quality education to Indian students. As a fintech company focused on providing accessible credit to students using technology, we’re happy that the government is keen on using the digital medium for education and making India’s youth job-ready. We’re also thrilled with the fact that corporate surcharge has been reduced from 12% to 7%. We will also be looking forward to the setting up of the committee to help scale up investments by venture capital and private equity.
Vishal Vij, Founder & CEO, Nestegg
Finally, virtual digital assets are going to be taxed. India now has the highest number of crypto owners in the world, exceeding 10 cr. It was essential to bring in a clear tax guideline on the transfer of virtual digital assets considering it is a highly speculative space widely considered as a “get-rich-quick” scheme by millennials in India. Presenting in the budget today, the FM clearly specified that the gains arising from the transfer of virtual digital assets (including all cryptocurrencies) will be taxed at 30%, which is a welcome step to regularise the sector. Any losses incurred while transferring these assets can’t be set off against gains in other asset classes. Also, gifting of these assets will be taxed in the hands of the recipient. From now on, investors in digital assets will have to be mindful of compliance with the tax guidelines presented in the budget.
Sousthav Chakrabarty, Co-Founder & CEO, Siply
The provision in this year’s Budget for filing updated returns that has been extended to 2 years will be a relief to the ordinary taxpayers of India. We are also elated that the government is continuing financial support for the digital payment ecosystem to this financial year as well. Honorable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there will be a focus to promote use of payment platforms that are economical and user-friendly, and companies such as Siply which aim to enable financial independence for over 40 crore under-served Indians using frictionless technology are exactly on the right path. The decision to cap the surchagrge on long term capital gain (LTCG) arising from transfer of unlisted securities to 15% from the previous 35% is a game-changer for the startup sphere, and will be of huge benefit to our investors during a liquidity event. We also believe that the reduction of the corporate surcharge from 12% to 7% will propel the growth of business and help achieve an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Pramod Lamba, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Valyu.ai
The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement to reduce the corporate tax surcharge from 12% to 7% is a huge reason for cheer for the markets. It’s also encouraging that the budget states clearly that fin-tech innovations are essential for financial inclusion. The decision to continue financial support for the digital payment ecosystem announced in the previous budget to this year as well is the right one and will help grow the ecosystem even further. The continuation of the three-year tax incentive to startups that established before March 31, 2023 will help in faster growth of the economy. Combined with the 8-8.5% growth rate predicted for the year ahead, India looks well poised to hit the $5 trillion GDP target for 2025.
